After win over Florida, Wilson’s fate, road trip loom

After a pair of disappointing losses, the Washington Capitals bounced back Saturday with a solid 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers.

The win snapped a three-game losing streak to the Panthers, and was one of the better games so far in 15 games this season.

“We needed a good performance today, and with the way the last couple games went, even though we felt good about our game coming out of them, they're two in the loss column, so to just fight through a little adversity tonight, got that out as a group,” Spencer Carbery said afterwards.

Even though things seemed to be getting away from Washington after Tom Wilson was assessed a major and ejected from the game for boarding Sandis Vilmanis 8:55 into the contest and the Panthers scored on the 5-minute power play to take a 2-1 lead halfway through the frame, the Capitals were able to take control and mostly shut down Florida the rest of the way. 

Jack St. Ivany was able to notch a personal milestone in the first period, recording his first NHL goal and now has 5 points (1 goal, 4 assists) since joining the Capitals after being picked up on waivers from the Winnipeg Jets.

A good pairing with Cole Hutson, St. Ivany has been a boost to both players’ offensive effectiveness, and he has also fit right in with some injuries on the Washington blueline.

“It’s been great,” he said afterwards. “Whirlwind of emotions, you know, changing cities, but I can't give enough credit to the group here. They've been so welcoming from the day I got here, every single guy, make me feel at home, so, you know, the hockey gods working funny ways, so, um, I'll take it.”

“He’s just been rock solid for us, I think, playing with [Hutson], and since we picked him up, he's just ... Each of the games that he's played, he's played exactly the type of hockey that we need from him,” Carbery said.

The Capitals also got a goal from Aliaksei Protas, who has been struggling this season, as while some of Washington’s newcomers have been the more effective players so far this season, the returning players haven’t quite matched their point total.

“I just mentioned to him, we, we needed some guys,” Carbery said. “When you play the Florida Panthers, it's gonna be physical. It's gonna be uncomfortable. There's gonna be confrontation all over the ice in all 3 zones, and he was just, I felt like, with his size, with his skating, with his stick, he just was engaged, and won a bunch of punk battles. 

“The offensive stuff was great, but I just felt like all the situations, defensively winning one on one confrontations against the Florida Panthers, which they make it very, very difficult for you to win those scenarios. He was excellent enough tonight.”

Going forward the concern for Washington out of Saturday's win will be the fate of Wilson, who will likely get a suspension for the hit.

Wilson, who was last suspended in 2021, will not be considered a repeat offender which would have multiplied his games he will be penalized for, but certainly his lengthy overall history and the player’s injury will be taken into consideration.

“Here's what I'll say about the hit, and I watched it, obviously, live, and then a bunch of replays,” Carbery said. “He's going to make contact, and you hate to see anybody have to leave the game … He turns, and so now, like, Willie's committed to making contact.

“Everything looks fine. … He spins on the wall play. Okay, normally 9 times out of 10, that's no big deal, and nothing happens, but Willie's a big, strong guy. So when you turn on Willie, and you take his contact of 240 pounds of just steel, now, a player that normally, you would just take a little contact and go into the wall, it'd be fine. 

“He's now extremely off balance, and so, to me, it's a player that, you know, everything looks good, and then you see him spin, and then now his numbers are there, and now, so it's an unfortunate, you never want to see anybody get heard from something like that, but I just felt like it was a player that spins and turns his back.”

As Wilson approached Vilmanis, the Panthers forward turned his back, making him more vulnerable to a hit, and the resulting contact caused him to go into the boards head-first. While the play was the result of some bad timing and unfortunate decision to turn away from Wilson, the optics of the video and resulting injury won’t help Wilson’s case with the Department of Player Safety.

As a result, Wilson, who has struggled offensively since the first games of the season, could be sitting out some of the next few games, including a road trip to Ottawa and New Jersey.

Should Wilson be unavailable, it could mean Ethen Frank returns to the lineup. Washington could dress Ivan Miroshnicenko as well, although he is a different type of forward than Wilson or Frank and likely will play sparingly until his likely departure from the Capitals after his trade request.

Washington also ends a string of 11 of 15 games at home, going 9-6-0 overall and 7-4-0 on home ice, with now 11 of their next 16 being away from Capital One Arena. The Capitals, who were a much better team on home ice last season, will have to improve on last year’s sub-.500 road record and their 2-2-0 mark away so far this season.